Essential Selling Skills

Workshop Description

As selling has evolved, successful salespeople have upgraded their skills and abilities to become more consultative and value-oriented. The Essential Selling Skills workshop focuses on the skills needed to sell effectively in today’s business environment, such as varying your selling style for different customers and highlighting value rather than price. Participants will learn how to sell more effectively to current customers and win new business at prospective accounts.

Newer sales people will learn skills that are a great foundation for future success rather than learning outdated methods of selling. The Essential Selling Skills workshop also helps sales support and other professionals who interact with customers and assist in the sales process (for example, customer service and technical support representatives).

Workshop Topics and Objectives

Varying Your Selling Style — Overview of four approaches to selling, including the use of a self-survey to identify your natural selling style. You will learn how and when to vary your style for different customers.

Using the Stages and Critical Tasks of Selling —Understand and follow the critical tasks of the 6-Stage Sales Call Process (Planning, Opening, Exploring, Presenting, Commitment, and Follow-up).

Questioning and Listening for Needs — Learn essential skills that apply to anyone involved in selling, starting with some fundamental questioning & listening skills, but also including STAR’s advanced IDEAL Questioning ® model.

Selling Benefits and Value— Improve your ability to present information persuasively about your products and services, with emphasis on how to sell on value rather than price and differentiate your company/product.

Advancing the Sale — Sharpen your ability to advance a sale forward and win more sales by getting customers to commit to actions and next steps rather than using high-pressure closing techniques.

Implementing Price Increases — Learn a variety of techniques to help you sell and implement price increases to customers so that you can capture the maximum value of your products and services.

Handling Objections and Difficult Customers — Identify and improve your ability to respond to four major types of customer objections, including common objections such as "We’re happy with our current supplier.”

Applying the Skills to Critical Sales Situation — During the workshop, each participant will apply the concepts to an upcoming sales opportunity, such as selling more to an existing customer or winning a new customer.